That film about Joe Strummer

Woebot

Well-known member
by Julien Temple

it's actually quite good. a bit corny in places. the campfire motif was nice but occasionally corny (those people under the brooklyn bridge, had a bit of a groan there, they looked like twats)

really liked the way people's names weren't listed

great black and white footage from the first LP by temple back in the day.

HATED bono. god i really thought his portentous overbearing nature had a very bright light shone on it in the context.

couldn't care less about the mescaleros, but it was nice to see the walker soundtrack and permanent record mentioned.

nothing about rock against the rich (eek)

as i very often mention joe used to say hi to me in and around the portobello (c1989) when i was a screwed-up litle thing. he was always dead sweet, very tender. a certain bit of the film (they remark that he was very depressed) really reminded me of him, and i suppose inevitably (groan) where my head used to be at.

did anyone else bump into him?

-

also strange how for a while acid house made a story like his kinda redundant for a period.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
He means everyone was too twatted to adhere to the normal conventions of canonical rock as laid down by Q Magazine.

;)
 

Woebot

Well-known member
Not seen it, although intend to.

What do you mean by

by the way?

well rock is back isn't it? during rave/acid things like the clash just seemed totally old hat.

there's a bit in the film with strummer talking about rave to richard jobson under the westway, actually eulogising it, and he says: "there's so many styles, new styles every week....intellechno" and eek, hearing that term "intellechno"- i mean, who ever said that, what a ghastly word, and coming from his lips, eek, sheer embarassment.

sfunny cos shane macgowan was massively into acid house as well. wanted to release a 30 minute rave track about getting in touch with your inner god, but the label wouldnt put it out.
 

blubeat

blubeat
well rock is back isn't it? during rave/acid things like the clash just seemed totally old hat.
I'm not entirely sure I agree with that. During rave/acid there was a parallel "madchester" rock scene and after a heavy Thursday/Friday/Saturday of repetitive beats we'd often go to the Sunday indie discos (admittedly mainly for the cheap pints and student chicks) and it was also a time when Rock bands were influenced by the house scene and vice versa.

I think I got more switched on to Rolling Stones/Clash through the influences of Primal Scream and Andrew Weatherall than at any time previously. Think of all the Weatherall remixes of rock bands - my mind has gone a bit blank but "My Bloody Valentine - Glider" sticks out.

Lol, thats how I remember it but my head is fuzzy :)
 

DRMHCP

Well-known member
Agree with Woebot here. Most of the early DJs and a large proportion of the early audience (early 1988) in the south east came from the pre-house soul/funk/jazz scene which existed in a parallel universe to the canonical rock scene. Robert Elms (I think) went as far as to call the acid explosion "the triumph pf the suburban soul boy". Just about the only white "rock" act I can remember being played on the pirates (JFM/Solar etc) and it being "ok to like" (bit of a rockist canoninical term there) were Steely Dan/Donald Fagen ('The Nightfly' was always massive) because of the jazz influences. Everything else was if it was thought about at all was brushed off as "student music".
Obviously as the scene took off a load of people came in from the "rock" scene (for want of a better word) but I always got the feeling that once they arrived at least for the early honeymoon period rock was a bit of an embarrassment and they fully immersed themselves in the new acid/house music.
Added to that were thousands of people (often younger and who became the 'ardcore massive a couple of years later) who previous to the dance scene wouldnt have taken more than a passing interest in music of any kind.
If rock seeped into the early 88/89 scene at all it was usually stuff that the NME (which surely thought it administered the rock canon at the at point) wouldnt have touched with a barge pole...Steve Hillage/Pink Floyd "Echoes" (big in the Spectrum/Land of Oz chillout room or the occasional house mix of stuff like "Big Love" by Fleetwood Mac (that was extremely early on).
The so called Madchester scene had precisely no impact on the scene in the south east as far as I can remember and I find the whole lumping in of this with the revolution that was acid house as rock revisionism of the worst kind. A lame attempt to stake a claim on something which had made the rock press irrelevant. Only possible due to the Hacienda's unfortunate rock connections and previous life and maybe because of Sean Ryder in some ways being an embodiment of the ethos.
To be honest though I can't speak for the scene in the north west but i doubt the big Blackburn parties were wall to wall "baggy anthems" either.

And back down south at the big orbital parties or The Trip, Sin, Rage or Clink Street can anyone seriously imagine the Stone Roses being played?More chance of them playing the Bay City Rollers...
 
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blubeat

blubeat
@ DRMHCP Perhaps I misunderstood the original post and perhaps my reply was a little simplistic for you Dissensus connoisseurs.

I didn't come from a Rock background - I went straight from no real musical taste or preference into acid house. From the influences of certain DJ's - namely Weatherall I developed a taste, at that time, for a number of different "rock" bands. That was all I was trying to say. Also I said, I think, that the Madchester scene ran in parrallel - and although the crowds for each mostly didn't mix there were some crossover tunes.

What I disagreed with was this line:

> during rave/acid things like the clash just seemed totally old hat

Certainly not if you were a follower of Weatherall and the other alternative acid DJ's. And yes I can recall clearly The Clash being played at The Trip.

"The Trip and Clink St" - props to you Sir for just lightening my Thursday at the mere mention of those names. :)
 

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
The Clash and the scene around them helped invent acid house. Mick Jones especially was a crucial link. Oh how people forget their history.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
And surrealism.

Did anyone see that Don Letts thing last night? It was better than I thought - Rollins is always great to watch, innit.
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
And surrealism.

Did anyone see that Don Letts thing last night? It was better than I thought - Rollins is always great to watch, innit.


Saw that film a year or two back. Way too American for me (and even perhaps for Letts, who acknowledged in a Q&A session that much of the finance came from the US so the film had to go wiith it). I could count the US punk bands I like on one hand and I think I'm allergic to Rollins.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
I know what you mean but the US stuff felt a bit fresher than the usual suspects from the UK droning on about the kings road and how real punks never wore leather jackets blah blah blah blah.

Bill Grundy blah blah blah.

Oh Vivienne, she was so talented yadda yadda yadda. Yes those were very different times cough cough cough. Kids today, eh? What do they know?
 

STN

sou'wester
Surely it was Malcolm McLaren who invented the internet and hip hop as well as reggae, the moon, universities, goats, coats, trees and kissing?

Who were the American bands featured, other than Flag? I'm guessing Bad Brains were in it at least. Rollins does irk me, and I do feel he ruined Black Flag (what a tearful pub accusation that sounds like; 'you ruined Black Flag, you bastard') but I do find him kind of interesting.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
It started early so we got Ramones, Dolls, Patti, Television, Blondie.

but also The Germs, Screamers, Agnostic Front, DKs, Suicide.

Bad Brains were totally in it and were great.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Nah, Al Gore invented the Internet, remember?
And Led Zeppelin invented hip-hop. In the opening bars of 'When The Levee Breaks'.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
According to 2stepfan, The Clash actually helped to invent Al Gore, Led Zeppelin AND Malcolm McLaren.
 
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